BABI YAR

THEY RAN TO THE RAVINE

TO STAND AMONG THE DEAD

WHICH THEY SOON JOINED

IF THEY LOOKED UP

THEY ONLY SAW HATEFUL FACES

IF THEY COULD HEAR

ABOVE THE WAILING

THEY HEARD CHRIST KILLERS

AND OTHER NON CHURCH LIKE SAYINGS

THEY HAD BEEN TAUGHT

THAT JEWS WERE CHRIST KILLERS

THEY LIVED OUT THEIR FAITH

THEY FELT JUSTIFIED

SO THAT GROUP AFTER GROUP

OF CHRISTS WERE SLAUGHTERED

YOUNG

OLD

MALE

FEMALE

IT DIDN’T MATTER

THEY FELT LIKE

 THEY WERE EXTERMINATING

 BUGS

SO THEY KILLED BOTH LARVA

AND MATURE INSECTS

THEY FELT LIKE

THEY WERE EXTERMINATING

THINGS

 THAT HAD NO RIGHT TO EXIST

THEN THEY SAT IN CHURCH

HEARING THE SERMON

LITTLE CHILDREN

LOVE ON ANOTHER

I WONDER

IF THEY CALLED TO MIND

A MISQUOTE OF JEREMIAH

IF ONLY

THEY HAD KILLED ME

 WHILE I WAS IN THE WOMB

THEN MY MOTHER

WOULD HAVE BEEN MY GRAVE

SHE WOULD ALWAYS

HAVE BEEN WITH CHILD

WE ARE ALL GUILTY OF IT

JUDGING PEOPLE LESS THAN WE ARE

BE IT WEALTH

KNOWLEDGE

RACE

FAITH

ANYTHING WHICH MAKES THEM DIFFERENT FROM US

BUT CHRIST IS THE ULTIMATE OTHER

WE ARE ALL SUBSERVIENT TO HIM

HIS WORDS ARE

CLOSE UP BABI YAR

LET THE GRASS GROW

NEVER DO IT AGAIN

FRANK A VOLLMER

OY VEY

I THINK I READ IT SOMEWHERE

BUT I CAN’T REMEMBER WHERE

I’VE CHECKED THE RESEARCH BOOKS

AND CANNOT FIND IT

THE THOUGHT THAT ASPERGES

AND ASPARAGUS

ARE LINKED

OY VEY

ASPERGES

AS IN ASPERGES ME

THE NAME OF A BLESSING RITE

WHERE THE FAITHFUL ARE SPRINKLED    

WITH WATER

AS A SIGN OF THEIR BAPTISM

WHILE THE WORDS FROM PSALM 50:9

OR PSALM 51:7

ARE SAID

PURGE ME WITH HYSSOP

 AND I SHALL BE CLEAN

 WASH ME

AND I SHALL BE WHITER THAN SNOW

THE JEWS AND THE CATHOLICS

HAVE PSALM 50

PROTESTANTS HAVE PSALM 51

OY VEY

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD ASPARAGUS

GOES FROM MIDDLE LATIN

TO GREEK

TO PERSIAN

WITH THE BASIC MEANING

OF SHOOT OR STEM

DESCRIBING ITS GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS

BUT IT’S ITS MEDICINAL QUALITIES

THAT INTEREST US

IT IS BOTH A DIURETIC

BLOOD CLEANSER

LAXATIVE

IT CLEANSED THE BODY OF IMPURITIES

HYSSOP MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE

WAS A CLEANSING AGENT

USED TO CLEANSE THE TEMPLE

AND HOMES

IT WAS ALSO USED AS A PURGATIVE

IN THE MIGRATION OF WORDS

FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE

A NAME OFTEN CARRIES WITH IT

NO ONLY A NAME OF A THING

BUT ALSO ITS ACTIONS

SO WHEN THE AUTHOR OF PS 50(51)

CRIES OUT IN REMORSE

HE USES CONCEPTS

CURRENT IN HIS TIME

HE ASKS FOR A DIURETIC

BLOOD CLEANSER

LAXATIVE

THIS IS NOT A GOD TEA PARTY EXPERIENCE

BUT A GUT WRENCHING CRY OF SORROW

HE SAYS IN THE KJV

WHICH THE JEWS FIND CLOSER TO THE HEBREW BIBLE

HE SAYS

⁶BEHOLD

 THOU DESIREST TRUTH

 IN THE INWARD PARTS

AND IN THE HIDDEN PART

 THOU SHALT MAKE ME

TO KNOW WISDOM.

PURGE ME WITH HYSSOP

AND I SHALL BE CLEAN:

WASH ME,

AND I SHALL BE WHITER THAN SNOW

THE WORD FOR WASHING

IS THE SAME AS USED FOR CLOTHING

WHICH WERE CLEANED USING STONES

THE SINNER WANTS THE EXTERIOR MAN

PUNISHED FOR HIS SINS

HE ALSO WANTS THE INTERIOR MAN PURGED

SO WHEN JEROME

TRANSLATED THE BIBLE

INTO COMMON LATIN

NOT THE LANGUAGE OF SCHOLARS

BUT THE PLEBIAN CLASS

HE USED COMMON IMAGERY

SO WHEN HE SAID

PURGE ME WITH HYSSOP

HE ENCOMPASSED ALL I’VE MENTIONED ABOVE

SO HE TRANSLATED THE PSALM

AS SUCH

Asparges me hysopo et mundabor lavabis me et super nivem dealbabor

PURGE ME WITH HYSSOP

 AND I SHALL BE CLEAN

 WASH ME

AND I SHALL BE WHITER THAN SNOW

FRANK A VOLLMER

“Jim, Christianity has nothing to do with racism.”

That's what my church elder told me when I was a 15-year-old boy. Can you believe that? “That's political, and our faith is personal,” he said.

That's the night I left my church.

Jim Wallis
President and CEO, Sojourners

(a magazine dedicated to faith in action for social justice)

Come Lord Jesus

I hope when all the sentimentality of Christmas is over

That Jesus receives in his stocking

Real food not pap

That men need each other to survive

That the social gospel

Is the gospel

Not an addendum

As we gather in warm churches

Many are cold

As we receive the lord

Many are hungry

As we showoff our Christmas finery

Many are naked

As we celebrate family

Many are lonely

As we think of a child forced to flee to Egypt

Many will not accept the stranger in our midst

We have been taught a narrow image of religion

So that many wonder what happened to the message of Christ

The straw in the manger is prickly

So should be our conscience

Come lord Jesus

Really come

Not as we imagine

But really come

Frank A Vollmer

(LUKE 2:8-20) HASTE

THERE’S A CORNY BIBLE JOKE

THAT GOES

THE SHEPHERDS AT BETHLEHEM HAD A DOG

NAMED HASTE

BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS

THE SHEPHERDS WENT WITH HASTE

TO BETHLEHEM

TO SEE WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE

CORNY BUT I LIKE IT

NOT TOO FAR AFIELD

TO SAY THERE WAS A DOG PRESENT

OR EVEN DOGS

THEY WERE USEFUL HERDING SHEEP

THEY OFTEN JUST LAY OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE OF SHEEP

THEIR PRESENCE

KEEPING THE SHEEP SAFE INSIDE

OFTEN THEY FACED OFF PREDATORS

 THAT ROAMED LIKE HUNGRY LIONS

SEEKING WHOM THEY MAY DEVOUR

SOMETIMES THE SHEPHERD

LEFT THEM TO GUARD THE FLOCK

WHILE THEY SOUGHT LOST SHEEP

MAYBE THEY WERE NAMED HASTE

BUT MORE LIKELY THEY WERE CALLED

BARBARA

FRANK

HANK

PAT

SCOTT

DIANE

LEFT BY THE SHEPHERD

WHEN HE WENT AWAY

TO GUARD THE FLOCK BY EXAMPLE

TO TEACH THEM LIMITS

BY RESISTING WHAT WOULD HARM THEM

BY STANDING WATCH AT NIGHT

A WARM PRESENCE

WHEN THE NIGHT WAS COLD

WHEN ALL THEY COULD DO WAS BE THERE

HASTE WAS HAPPY TO BE USEFUL

WORKING WITH HIS MASTER

GUARDING THE SHEEP

THE MASTER GUARDING BOTH THEM

AND HIM

FRANK A VOLLMER

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

SUPPOSE I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAY

THAT THE BIBLE IS THE UNERRING WORD OF GOD

FOR SOME OF YOU

CREATION TOOK SEVEN DAYS

THAT GOD SPOKE THE KING JAMES VERSION

THAT THE NAME OF THE BIBLE BOOKS

ARE THE NAMES OF THE AUTHORS

THAT ANY ANOMALIES ARE THE FAULT OF THE READER

NOT THE BOOK

WE

IN THIS MOST CHRISTIAN COUNTRY

DECLARE THIS BOOK TO BE SACRED

AND THE BASIS OF OUR BELIEF

WE WANT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

POSTED IN OUR PUBLIC PLACES

PRAYER IN SCHOOL

AS LONG AS IT’S THE CHRISTIAN GOD

BUT WHY SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN VIEW HAVE PRIORITY

IS IT BETTER

WHERE IS THE PROOF IN THE PUDDING

AVARICE IN THE MARKET PLACE

UNJUSTIFIED WAR

ONE LAW FOR THE RICH

ONE FOR THE POOR

HATRED FOR THE STRANGER

IN OUR MIDST

THE LIST GOES ON

ALL OF THEM CLEARLY CONDEMNED IN THE BOOK

WE ARE A NATION OF HYPOCRITES

WE ARE LIKE THE GOD JANUS

ONE FACE FOR THE PUBLIC

ONE FOR OUR REAL SELVES

NOT LOOKING BACK TO SEE WHERE WE ERRED

THEN LOOKING FORWARD TO NOT REPEAT THE ERRORS

WE SHOULD

TO PARAPHRASE THE VERNACULAR

PUT OUR BELIEFS INTO OUR ACTIONS

IF THE BIBLE IS GOD’S UNERRING WORD

WE SHOULD DO MORE THAN LISTEN

OR PARROT KEY PHRASES

WE SHOULD OBSERVE THE WORD

AND LIVE IT

FRANK A VOLLMER

COME LORD JESUS

 

“Jim, Christianity has nothing to do with racism.”

That's what my church elder told me when I was a 15-year-old boy. Can you believe that? “That's political, and our faith is personal,” he said.

That's the night I left my church.

Jim Wallis
President and CEO, Sojourners

(a magazine dedicated to faith in action for social justice)

Come Lord Jesus

I hope when all the sentimentality of Christmas is over

That Jesus receives in his stocking

Real food not pap

That men need each other to survive

That the social gospel

Is the gospel

Not an addendum

As we gather in warm churches

Many are cold

As we receive the lord

Many are hungry

As we showoff our Christmas finery

Many are naked

As we celebrate family

Many are lonely

As we think of a child forced to flee to Egypt

Many will not accept the stranger in our midst

We have been taught a narrow image of religion

So that many wonder what happened to the message of Christ

The straw in the manger is prickly

So should be our conscience

Come lord Jesus

Really come

Not as we imagine

But really come

Frank A Vollmer



GETTING RELIGION

MY DOG IS GETTING RELIGION

HE ATE THE BABY JESUS OUT OF THE MANGER

THE SHEPHERDS WERE TENDING THEIR SHEEP

THE WISE MEN WERE LOOKING FOR A STAR

MARY AND JOSEPH FELL OVER IN AWE

AND JESUS WENT DOWN THE DOG’S GULLET

I LOOKED FOE CHANGES

IN MY POOCH’S BEHAVIOR

SAW NONE

HE STILL SHED

SLOBBERED HIS WATER

NEEDED TO BE WALKED

WHERE HE SALUTED EVERY TREE AS USUAL

BUT THEN HE DIDN’T HAVE TO LEARN

HOW TO BE TRUSTWORTHY

AND FAITHFUL

A FOLK LEGEND

SAYS

THAT A DOG’S LIFE IS SHORT

BECAUSE EVERYONE LIVES LONG ENOUGH

TO BECOME LOYAL   AND TRUSTWORTHY

IF THEY TRY

DOGS LEARN FASTER

IN FACT

A COMMON NAME FOR DOGS

USED TO BE

FIDO

LATIN FOR I TRUST

GOD HAS BEEN CALLED

THE HOUND FROM HEAVEN

HE WILL PURSUE YOU

TIRELESSLY

TO LAY AT YOUR FEET

THE BABY JESUS

THAT HE MAY BECOME

YOURS

FRANK A VOLLMER